How long was your (family, friends, whoever) engagement

[kyton]

Dated from age 18 until 32. Engaged 6mths, married at 33.Turning 54 this year and we have spent 36yrs together.

 

[RedAngie]

I have a friend who got “engaged” in 1996 and in 2022 was still not married when he passed after a long health battle.

There’s a story about my uncle’s friend who also got “engaged” to a woman about 1964 and as far as I know they’re still “just companions” today.

He was briefly married to another woman because he knocked her up while he and the first woman were temporarily on the outs.

For whatever reasons he and the first woman never got married.

I’m going out for lunch today with some family members including my uncle’s widow. Maybe I’ll ask her for an update.

 

[RedAngie]

I don’t know if I was ever engaged for my current marriage. I met DH in 2008 and we started dating soon after. By 2010 we talked about getting married but kept putting it off. Finally in late September 2012 we decided to finally get hitched and did so in mid October. So a quickie 3 week engagement?

First marriage. Met exH Labor Day weekend 1985, got engaged late August 1986, got married late May 1987.

 

[hertamaniac]

We dated for about 1 year before our engagement. We got married about 1-1/2 years after that.

 

[disney4us2002]

Dh and I were engaged 14 months and actively planning the wedding and graduating college during that time.

My middle ds was engaged 4 months and got married when the bride's father was diagnosed with colon cancer and had very little time remaining.

My youngest ds has been engaged for 2 1/2 years. They already live together so they're not too rushed to get married as very little will change. She has looked at wedding gowns but otherwise, they're very chill on the topic.

 

[jimmymc]

My parents' engagement was 6 months.

Some friends varied between 1 and 4 years. The longer ones were due to covid delays.

 

[The Mayor]

Met my wife in September, got engaged at Christmas and married the following September, 51 weeks after our first date. Coming up on 45 years in September.

My son met his wife sophomore year of college, dated for 7 years, then engaged for 2 years.

My daughter dated her husband for 2.5 years and was engaged 10 months.

 

[MGMmjl]

My wife and I met in March 2015, engaged at midnight New Year's Day 2016, and married in June 2016.

 

[wenrob]

We met in January 1989 and were pretty much living together from day one (always in my apartment or his) and got an apartment about six months together. I knew two weeks in I was going to marry him though. We got engaged right before Christmas 1991 and got married four months later in April 1992. We weren’t necessarily in a hurry, it was just what was convenient for our friends and family. So together 35 years and married 32 years. Lived together three years.

 

[lovin'fl]

DH and I met end of sophomore year of college, April 1993. Got engaged July 1994, before senior year of college. A little on and off after engaged (on a break, lol) but finally got married Sept 1996. Still married.

Our good freinds' son just got engaged. He and his GF have also been dating since HS. They are, I think, juniors in college. They also will graduate first and my friend said the wedding isn't going to be for a couple years.

My niece and nephew recently got married. They met their people in college and dated a few years after college and lived together before getting engaged and married. Both engagements were about 12-14 months. Wedding planning started right away. And it's a LOT these days.

From engagement party to Bach trips (yep, trips plural...one for bachelor and also one for the bachelorette...like a cruise or rental at the beach or AI). Then bridal shower at a nice venue and finally wedding which now is a wedding weekend. Not like our day where we got engaged and had a shower at maid of honor's house and then for wedding the guests just showed up, enjoyed a few hours and went home. Usually wedding at church and then the reception in a community hall or banquet room in a hotel or banquet venue somewhere near the church. And now photos are such a focus. Crazy. I never even look at my album. Packed away in a bin somewhere, lol.

Two of my kids, 25 and 27, are not even dating anyone and the 3rd, also 25, has been dating for 2.5 years but they both say they aren't interested in marriage so no stress of a wedding for me anytime soon. I used to be excited for it but then saw what my SIL went through for her 2 recently...and nope, I am good. OP, sorry to be a downer. At least it's a son and maybe less work on you (though seems like that tradition, of brides parents doing wedding, is a thing of the past).

 

[lovin'fl]

Oh, and my brother (aged 55) got engaged in 1999. They are still together and have a business together but they never married or had kids. Just eternally engaged. She had a ring but then sold it a few years later.

 

[RedAngie]

There’s a story about my uncle’s friend who also got “engaged” to a woman about 1964 and as far as I know they’re still “just companions” today.

He was briefly married to another woman because he knocked her up while he and the first woman were temporarily on the outs.

For whatever reasons he and the first woman never got married.

I’m going out for lunch today with some family members including my uncle’s widow. Maybe I’ll ask her for an update.

Update: They’re still “going together” 60ish years later, but now they maintain separate residences. He’s in assisted living, she lives with her widowed sister.

 

[tvguy]

My wife's maternal Grandfather and his second wife were engaged for 25 years before they got married . They were both caring for elderly parents and did not want to get married while doing that. They were married for 25 years until he passed away. The parents they were caring for enjoyed long lives, and so did they. But if they had been willing to juggle caring for their parents and a marriage, they could have been married 50 years.

 

[Babs Johnson]

I met DW in 1981 thru mutual friends and we went on a handful of dates but nothing clicked. I saw her a dozen or so times after that in group settings and in 1986 we tried dating again.

This time there was a spark, and we continued dating. We got engaged in spring 1988 and got married in June 1989. Will be 35 years in a few months.

 

[leebee]

We met in grad school. We were friends the first year, dated the second year, and then moved in together. Our first "date" was in June of 1985, moved in together in June of 1986. We got engaged in September of 1992 and married in June of 1993, on our 8th anniversary, so a 9 month engagement. We'll be together 39 years this June, married for 31 of those years.

 

[Babs Johnson]

The story goes that my in-laws got married less than two weeks after first meeting. It was soon after WWII in Italy and it was kind of an arranged marriage, one that was mutually beneficial to both families‘ interests. They immigrated to the US in the early 1950s.

My FIL also claimed that his family paid another family to have their son swap places with him so that FIL could avoid joining the Italian army.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Got engaged after dating about 2 ½ years. Engagement was about 16 months.

I would say though, that couples who start younger often have longer relationships before marriage. Of my friends and family, I don’t know many (my age or younger) who married as teenagers. And also those who go to college are more likely to finish and graduate first. In other words, OP, I think your son’s situation is pretty common.

 

[mumto3girls]

We started dating in August of 1986 right before starting our senior year of high school. We moved in together in March 1993 and got engaged New Year’s Eve 1993. We married in August 1996 on the 10th anniversary of our first date so engaged about 2 1/2 years. Been together 37 years, married for 27.

 

[Aladora]

DH and I met when we were teenagers and living in Ottawa, this would have been around 1991. I moved to BC in 1992, DH moved here with the Navy in 1996 and since I was the only person he knew living out here, he got in contact with me that summer. We went on one date and the next day he went to the East coast with his ship. He came back in October 1996 for a visit and then the ship got back here in Dec 1996. We were engaged Jan 1997 and planned a summer 1998 wedding because my grandparents would only come to Canada in the summer. Well, we found out that his ship was going on a 6 month deployment starting March 1998 so we pushed the wedding back a year to summer 1999. As it turned out, he left that ship Feb 1998 but by then it was impossible to plan a wedding for summer 1998 so we kept the 1999 plan and got married July 1999.

This summer we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary but we have known each other for 33 years.

 

[Dan Murphy]

DS informed us last night that he's going to propose to his GF at some point this year.

Forgot to extend my congratulations, Sam.